King's Own Calgary Regiment shows off new armoured patrol vehicles

Sgt Jesse Anderson, from the King's Own Calgary Regiment works on a newly delivered Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle which was on display in front of Mewata Armoury in downtown Calgary on Sunday, April 22, 2018. The Regiment was celebrating the Saint George's Day Parade in the Armoury.Jim Wells / Postmedia

Two new tactical armoured patrol vehicles weighing close to 16,000 kilograms each and equipped with both a machine-gun and grenade launcher have arrived at the Mewata Armoury in Calgary.

The vehicles were on display to the public Sunday as the King’s Own Calgary Regiment, a part-time reserve unit of 160 crew members, marked St. George’s Day with a parade and homecoming of its veterans.

At roughly 6.8 metres in length, 2.75 metres in width and 2.4 metres in height (not including its remote weapons system atop the roof), the towering all-terrain vehicles can each fit up to six people, including a three-member crew consisting of a driver, gunner and crew commander, as well as three additional dismounted soldiers.

“It’s a very smooth ride,” said Lt.-Col. Christopher Hunt, commanding officer of the King’s Own Calgary Regiment. “The suspension on this, with large tires, means it’s smooth both on the road and cross-country. This can do over 100 kilometres per hour on the highway so it’s a very mobile vehicle.”

Sgt Jesse Anderson, from the King’s Own Calgary Regiment works the remote weapons system on top of a newly delivered Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle which was on display in front of Mewata Armoury in downtown Calgary on Sunday, April 22, 2018. The Regiment was celebrating the Saint George’s Day Parade in the Armoury. Jim Wells/PostmediaJim Wells /
Jim Wells/Postmedia

They were delivered to the downtown armoury within the past month, as the Army has ordered 500 in total, 24 of which will be allocated to reserve forces in Western Canada, including four in Calgary.

Having them will allow the regiment to integrate its training to better fit that of everyday members of the Canadian Forces.

“This allows us to train with a modern armoured fighting vehicle that’s also used by the regular force, so that we’re more able to easily integrate for large-scale collective training and on operations overseas,” said Hunt. “So we can train together and we can fight together now that we have the same vehicle. It makes that transition much easier.”

Operating the vehicle requires a month’s worth of basic armoured crewman training, followed by a two-week driver course.

When fully loaded, each machine weighs up to 18,300 kilograms. Its remote weapon station on top includes a 40-millimetre automatic grenade launcher that can fire 350 grenades per minute with a range of a kilometre. It’s also equipped with a medium machine-gun as well as advanced sensors.

A computerized driver system allows for quick diagnostics, “so if there’s a problem with the vehicle, they can tell what it is right away,” said Hunt.

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